Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Written by

Jude Bautista

For the first time in the Philippines audiences will be able to watch a cinematic treat from Panama. There have been quite a number of international fests here even the WORLD PREMIERES film festival (instigated by former FDCP Chair Briccio Santos), which featured titles from as far as Russia, Turkey, Mongolia and so on. Panama, however, is one of those countries that have yet to debut a movie for Filipinos.

Through the very first CINE LATINO Film Festival, Pinoy cineastes will be able to watch movies from this region of the world for free from December 6 to 10, 2017 at the Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City. Shang Cineplex has established itself as the home of many international fests having just concluded the Argentinian Film Fest and Danish Fest. There is also the upcoming Hungarian film fest from December 1-2, 2017.

CINE LATINO will have a mix of drama, comedy, romance and many more. The festival is set to show films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela that are truly unforgettable.

from left: Brazilian Amb Rodrigo do Amaral Souza, Argentinian Amb Roberto Bosch, Chilean Amb Jose Miguel Capdevila, Panamanian Amb Rolando Anibal Guevara Alvarado, Colombian Amb Victor Hugo Echeverri, Mexican Consular Officer Gerardo Regalado—NOT IN PHOTO but will be participating is Venezuelan Amb Capaya Rodriguez Gonzalez and Mexican Amb Gerardo Lozano Arredondo. Watch free movies in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City. Photo by Jude Bautista

In a recent presscon Chilean Amb Jose Miguel Capdevila made note of the reasons why storytellers from Latin America have captivated the world, “Latin America has been quite prolific, first with literature. If we remember the 70s, the so-called Latin American boom. We have authors such as Jose Donoso, Pablo Neruda and so on. There was a very important point of culture that came from Latin America and was very successful. Nowadays from 90s onwards cinema kind of took the post. Our countries started producing wonderful films. And the quality of films were of such level that if you take a look at the international festivals all over the world you’ll see that the one of the top three are Latin American films proposed for awards. That speaks for itself in terms of the quality of films we are producing.”

Watch SUBTERRA from Chile and CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Chilean Amb. Jose Miguel Capdevila also emphasized the importance of cinema in bridging cultures, “I would say in the past 10 years we have advanced very much. The concrete and living proof is that our films have been awarded in the most important festivals all over the world. Needless to say that was one of the ideas in organizing this festival. Because we were fully aware and conscious we would like to share with you something very good about Latin America such as cinema. Cinema as literature cinema is a way of language and expression. Essentially what is expressed is ourselves, the way we are, the way we feel. Once you watch these films and books you get an impression of who we are. The more we know each other the better the ties will be. In that token this festival plays an important role in making us closer, the Philippines and Latin American countries. That is the worthwhile effect of this common activity.”

Chilean Amb Jose Miguel Capdevila; Watch free movies in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City. Photo by Jude Bautista

Argentinian ambassador Roberto Bosch proposed the CINE LATINO Film fest to the other Latin American countries who have embassies here namely: Brazil– Amb Rodrigo do Amaral Souza, Chile – Amb Jose Miguel Capdevila, Colombia – Amb Victor Hugo Echeverri, Mexico – Amb Gerardo Lozano Arredondo, Panama – Amb Rolando Anibal Guevara Alvarado and Venezuela – Capaya Rodriguez Gonzalez. The Spanish language is a point of emphasis in the shared history of the region and the Philippines.

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

THE CHANCE

Panamanian Ambassador Rolando Anibal Guevara Alvarado talked about how their government has started to assist their filmmakers, “Panama has a film industry but is in the initial stages. Now we have more opportunities for filmmakers, actors in the worldwide audience. For us it’s significant to bring a movie here. The title is CHANCE, which is a hilarious comedy. It’s basically about 2 housekeepers who work for an aristocratic family. For a certain time they were mistreated in one trip of the family to Florida, the yayas have a plan of their own. They take care of the mansion in their absence. In doing so they discover intimate secrets of the family. The message is all dirty clothes have to be washed in house. It’s going to be a hilarious comedy for Filipinos.”

CHANCE trailer

OFWs, Ship Registry

Panama has strong economic ties with the Philippines, “You have Filipinos around the world. We have also in Panama Filipinos working as caregivers, nurses. Last year we deployed a lot of Filipinos, 1,000 experts who worked on mining because Panama is starting the mining process.”

from left: Panamanian Amb Rolando Anibal Guevara Alvarado & Colombian Amb Victor Hugo Echeverri. Watch free movies in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City. Photo by Jude Bautista

Ship registry according to Alvarado is still the focus, “But the main reason we have an embassy here is because of shipping. Panama is the number one ship registry (for the Panamanian flag) and Filipinos are the largest and best seafarers in the world. That’s our connection. That’s basically the main purpose. We had our national Day just two weeks ago. We were celebrating the hundred years of the ship registry. We are very well known for that. We have a whole state policy behind that. Just to give you an idea of how close our ties are, we receive a total of 150 applications per day for ship registry. We have a very good synergy between governments in that particular area. We have signed Memorandum of agreements on high level official visits.”

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Connected to the ship registry is another film they would like to screen by next year, “We’re also trying to bring Historias De Canal HISTORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL this is a feature film we’re going to screen in the near future most probably in the first quarter of 2018. I would also like to invite the shipping community. We are a country of mariners by nature.”

Boxing Legend Roberto Duran makes cameo appearance in THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Duran-Pacquiao Connection

Boxing legend Roberto Duran actually makes a cameo appearance in this current film EL CHANCE screened in CINE LATINO Dec 8- 6pm and Dec 10- 1pm (Shang Cineplex). Alvarado revealed a new role for the world renowned ‘Hands Of Stone’, “Roberto Duran is appointed now as Special Envoy for Sports. He’s an icon of Panama has given a lot of glory for our country. He was recently inducted in the Boxing Hall of Fame. He’s now doing a nice job of promoting sports to young people. By the way we are very fond of Manny Pacquiao. There are quite a few people who follow the fights of Manny Pacquiao.”

Watch Hermano (BROTHER) from Venezuela for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

History with Spain and U.S.

Ambassador Alvarado also enumerated the historical similarities between the Philippines and his country, “In the case of Panama and several countries in Latin America we came from hundreds of years of Spanish rule. Panama has a twin connection with the Philippines. Apart from being a Spanish colony we also have the influence of the U.S. Americans. You have the military bases as well as us. They controlled us for 40 years until the canal was turned over to Panama. So the U.S. has influenced us, making a big impact on the economy, lifestyle. So we have that special thing. We are very Catholic basically we are in the same equator, just on the opposite side of the world.  We have the same weather, fruits and products. And we have a lot of connections between our two countries.”

Panamanian Amb Rolando Anibal Guevara Alvarado; Watch free movies in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City. Photo by Jude Bautista

Watch Mexican short films for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City. Photo by Jude Bautista (12)

CINE LATINO schedule

Watch SUBTERRA from Chile for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

WordPress:

http://judebsports.wordpress.com/ ,http://judebfood.wordpress.com/ ,

http://judebphoto.wordpress.com/ , http://judebgallery.wordpress.com/  ,

/

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

tumblr:

http://judebautista.tumblr.com/

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

Watch THE CHANCE from Panama for free in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

flickr:

; Watch free movies in the first CINE LATINO Film Festival running from December 6-10, 2017 at Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza, Mandaluyong City.

WordPress:

http://judebsports.wordpress.com/ ,http://judebfood.wordpress.com/ ,

http://judebphoto.wordpress.com/ , http://judebgallery.wordpress.com/  ,

/